New Tap Handles

Up until now, we have been using some tap handles that we made by hand. These worked fine, but are not as pretty nor as durable as the ones ordered. The ones we made started turning from white to a yellowish color and you could see some small stains on them as well (pic below). It was a good thing most bars are a bit dark, hiding our sub par wood working skills.

Tap handles are expensive! Most tap handle makers required a 25-200 count minimum order. Then they add setup fees, art fees, and all sorts of other made up fees. The cost of each tap varies depending on design but it seemed to be in the $30-$120 range. With the high minimums the cost gets out of hand for our little startup. This was one of the many expenses we overlooked when doing the financial planning for this journey.

Here is a few pics of the old tap handles. I forgot to take pictures of most steps.

The original mockup printed on top of a cut board

Drilling the hole for the screw piece

After being painted white the logo and text was printed onto the wood

The taps were sealed to prevent water/beer damage

Something didn’t work right and the handle started to fade from bright white to nasty yellow within a few weeks. You can also see how pixelated the text looks up close.

The two handles that were in use, they for some reason seem to like angry orchard.